Eijkman, Christiaan (1858–1930)

Dutch bacteriologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1929 for his discovery of a cure for beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disease. He pioneered the recognition of vitamins as essential to health and identified vitamin B1 deficiency as the cause of beriberi. He shared the prize with Frederick Gowland Hopkins, who received the award for his discovery of trace substances, now known as vitamins, that stimulate growth.